“That ending was quick.”

The Elites and the Jupiter sisters were at their usual playground, now some time after lunch and halfway home. One additional character was present in the form of Sisi, walking with the children home as she was dismissed too.

“What ending?”

Sisi looked quite out of place among the gang of high school students due to her small stature. People might mistake her for being somebody’s younger sister, despite being a seventy-year-old elder.

“Alice suddenly left the student council room with Gilbert, so we closed shop early. It was weird.”

“Yeah, hopefully she doesn’t run into too much trouble.”

“On the contrary, I’m hoping she doesn’t cause so much trouble that she can’t come with us tomorrow. You know how she runs her mouth off like Eon.”

“Nah, she’s not as bad as Eon. She knows her cards well enough.”

“I don’t think you should use me as a standard for bad. Mine is way too low.”

“You’re right. Your standards are low enough that normal insults have no effect.”

They idled there for quite a while, looking at a map of the Bozz and comparing wishlists of rides they wanted to go on. Naturally, there was a lot of argument between Eon and Bianca, but they would all end on an agreement soon enough. Franco was still missing from their group, and unfortunately he would not have much say on their itinerary because of that.

“We should start off with the tallest, most exciting rides in the morning.”

“You’re ready to throw up so early?”

“Better than throwing up after lunch.”

“That’s true. We can do all the less physically demanding things after lunch.”

“Haunted house, please.”

“Of course. I want to hear you squeal.”

“I’m fairly certain it’ll be the other way around.”

“Please, both of you went mental last time.”

Interestingly, the two of them agreed on as many things as they disagreed.

“Kato, do you have a minute?”

“Yes, Sisi?”

Sisi pulled Kato a bit ways away from the group huddle, and had him sit next to him on the steps of one of the picnic shelters. They watched the others fight on every little detail amusingly, complete with Evie’s awkward and heavy-handed interventions.

“Do you have any interest in a mission tomorrow?”

“Mission?”

“A simple mission for a Heart. Think of it as an apprenticeship opportunity.”

“What kind of a mission is it?”

“Bodyguard duty. Starting tomorrow night at the Lafayette residence. Can you guess who we shall be protecting?”

“No. Not enough hints yet.”

“Think of it this way. Sisi asked you first, instead of Evie or Teto. In fact, Sisi shall only ask of you, and maybe Evie, for this particular mission. Now, how are you two related to the Lafayettes?”

“Ah... If I were to guess, the person we’re guarding is Alice.”

“Correct. Are you in?”

“Absolutely.”

“That’s what Sisi likes to hear.”

Kato said without hesitation, and Sisi smiled approvingly like a proud grandmother.

“But what’s the impetus?”

“No idea. It is an order from the top. Sisi thought it would be important for you to come along. Alice is now a part of your gang, is that right?”

“She should have been last year, but you know Evie. She just leaves things where they are.”

“Sisi understands. And you’re quite close to her after only a week.”

“Now, I’ve heard this multiple times and I have to explain it every time, she’s friendlier than she appears, and you just have to push her in the right direction.”

“Well, the girl has to like the boy first before she lets you do that.”

“I don’t decide that. Make effort into getting her to like hanging out with you. That’s life, sister.”

Giggling, she motioned towards the cluster of children.

“Sisi has heard from both Master Chang and Karl. They are your reason for spending a final year in Livia, is that so?”

“Hah, yeah. How much of it do you know?”

“Just on the surface. You only had this idea after you found out you’d be erased from Livia’s memory. It’s understandable.”

Kato and his sisters Teto and Evie were raised to become Hearts. Once they leave their city of origin, in order to protect their interests and the Hearts’ in their duties, Eternia would seek out all the people related to the trio and wipe them from their memories. Part of that responsibility fell on their caretaker Karl, and that was why Karl was now absent from home all the time.

“No, you’re right on the mark. That’s exactly why I want to spend time with them.”

A sinister grin appeared on Sisi’s face as she leaned in towards Kato, who naturally became wary of this senior citizen.

“Which of those girls did you make this choice for, to take this year for yourself?”

Kato began sweating profusely as his head churned out his possible courses of action, but it was too late. This nosy old lady already had an iron grip on his arm.

“It’s... complicated.”

“Hmmmmmm. Let’s hear about it.”

Feeling the heat on his cheeks, he squinted warily at the grinning cat at his helm. He could feel Sisi was subliminally suppressing her presence so that people around her didn’t notice her in their peripherals. This was a basic alchemical technique that all deities and challengers mastered and obviously needed to become an assassin.

Kato too followed suit subconsciously, shielding his presence from his friends so that they were less likely to interrupt their conversation.

“Do I have to explain it?”

He tried one more time to escape her hold, but even he thought the chances weren’t very likely.

“If you don’t want to, then Sisi shall start guessing.”

“Really?”

“Man, you’re no fun.”

Sisi crossed her arms and pouted at the disagreeable Kato. For a moment, he really thought he was talking to a meddlesome middle-schooler, but her unnatural beauty reminded him of her real age that she so far had not been acting as. Still, he remained silent and was unwilling to say anything to her.

“...”

“...”

Another round of arguments flared up in the distance, this time Caius and Ariel entering the fray as well. Since it was still pretty much midday, not many other children were around and the main street beyond the fence was fairly busy and crowded.

“It’s one of Mirabelle or Bianca, isn’t it?”

Kato’s eyes widened nervously, to which Sisi grinned once again.

“Dude, you already knew!”

“And Sisi just confirmed it.”

He put his palm to his face, exasperated at the tiny girl’s determination.

“There was no need to confirm with me. Karl must have told you everything he knew.”

“Sisi did get a lot of it from him, but not all the details were there. That’s why Sisi is asking you right now, and you’re not telling Sisi.”

“And it’ll stay that way.”

“Should Sisi go ask them directly?”

“No! You shouldn’t!”

“Bianca’s right there. Sisi can start with her.”

“Most definitely not.”

“Then you can tell Sisi about it, or Sisi can have them tell Sisi about it.”

“...”

Rubbing his eyes with the back of his hand, there was no hope in sight. He definitely didn’t want to bring it up with the two girls she mentioned; not yet anyway. There should be a better time to do so.

“Do you want to break the status quo that bad?”

“So there is drama between you and those two.”

“...”

Kato made a pained expression. Unbelievable.

“Okay, fine. I’ll only give you an abstract. That’s it.”

“Ooo, not bad.”

He climbed behind her, began untying Sisi’s hair and retying it in different ways. It was a way to help him gather his thoughts.

Sisi didn’t complain. In fact, she looked pleased that someone was doing her hair. After all, Kato did Teto’s hair all the time as a child.

“Even though we were tight since we were kids, starting in primary school, Mira slowly disappeared from our group. Apparently, she went to another school on top of ours, so by middle school she barely hung out with us anymore.

“By the end of middle school, Bia became especially close to me. It was unexpected, but Mira’s absence was definitely part of why things came to be. Then I learned about the erasure. Can you guess what happened afterwards that led to today?”

Sisi nodded solemnly as he continued to gently brush through her blonde hair. He wouldn’t go through the details.

“Unexpectedly, it was Eon who brought us back from the brink. That’s why, in the end, it isn’t just about one or two people, even if Bia was initially why I sought for this year of freedom.”

He unconsciously ended up tying one big braid behind her, though it wasn’t very long because her hair only reached a bit past her shoulders. When he realized what he was doing, he also immediately knew why he chose to braid her hair. He replaced her ornamental hairpin through the braid to finish it off.

“Once Mira returned to us for high school, things went back to the way they were before. Mostly.”

“That’s right. Mostly.”

Looking up from behind Sisi’s head, he saw a familiar black-haired girl standing in front of them under the bright sunlight. Kato froze in place, complete with gaping mouth and open eyes. At the same time, he realized that Sisi, at some point, was no longer suppressing her presence. On the contrary, she was probably actively signalling Bianca to come over.

“Sisi shall be right back. Don’t you dare follow after Sisi, Kato.”

Sisi said merrily as she sprung up from the steps and ran away in the direction of the other children, leaving Kato and his incredulity behind.

“No, Sisi. I wasn’t going to follow after you anyway.”

He mumbled feebly as his new guardian took control of the children and their discussion. It now looked like as if Sisi was making all the final calls.

“You’d better not be.”

Bianca crouched down to Kato’s eye level and smiled vaguely. He didn’t say a word, but his eyes remained trained on her face, watching her carefully. Though she was blushing under his gaze, that was all he could discern. To be fair, a part of it was also avoiding looking up her miniskirt.

“You’re still playing with other girls’ hair, aren’t you? I was one of your patrons of your hobby.”

“It’s all for the sake of Teto.”

Sisi’s now-braided hair did not miss Bianca’s eyes. Kato was the one who braided her hair so many times during that summer two years ago.

She slowly untied the large bun behind her head to let her long hair down around her, and then grabbed it with her two hands to make it into two makeshift pigtails.

“Do I look like Mira?”

She beamed, but it was touched with a tint of sorrow.

“No. I can already tell the two of you apart.”

Once upon a time, it was not easy to tell the two apart if they were trying to imitate each other. It was one of the many frustrations the Elites struggled with in their childhood rivalry for mastery of the playground. However, in the present, he could always recognize the two apart.

“Really? I guess this will never work anymore.”

She sat down in the same place where Sisi was sitting previously and pointed to her hair.

“Here, tie it up.”

Kato, still sitting there on the wide step, hesitated for a moment before he reached out to touch her hair. He waited for a few more moments for Bianca to say something about how to tie her hair, but none came. It was his choice, so to speak.

So he began tying up her hair in silence. Not being able to see her face was a bit worrying, and he handled her hair with excessive care, as if he was trying not to wake Bianca up from her dreams.

“Thank you. You’ve kept your promise.”

Bianca uttered those delicate words along with all her hopes.

“No, I haven’t. The year has to end in a blast for it to be kept.”

She laughed lightly. He just had to pick out small details so he could be a contrarian.

“It’s as good as kept to me. You’re really spending the year with the rest of us without doing anything for Eternia.”

“Technically, no. I just accepted a job from Sisi, but the job is also related to us, so that’s fine.”

“The point is, y’all shouldn’t be tied down all the time by Eternia and be able to live a relatively normal life with us.”

He began to spin her hair into her usual bun.

“Bia, will you... how much does it mean to you? The die is cast, since that time, right?”

“I think it’s been set in stone a long time ago, way before that time. As much as I hate to admit it, it was a lost cause from the very start.”

“You mean the erasure?”

The mind wipe, of course, included the people who they’ve known their whole lives. And Bianca was no exception.

“Not just the erasure. There are other obstacles in my way too. One person in particular, I’ve never ever been able to overcome.”

Bianca whispered softly. There was only one person she could be talking about.

“How did you live under her shadow for so long?”

“Dunno. It did help that she was gone most of the time, remember?”

“She’s still like this right now. Mira’s been absent since Tuesday.”

Kato shook his head disapprovingly.

“I love my sister, but at the same time I can’t bring myself to accept her superiority.”

“It’s okay. You have your own parts that are better than her.”

“Such as?”

“Being an honest person when I need you to be, but more than strong-willed enough to not hesitate to act. She’s nothing like that.”

A smile flashed across her face, and then just as quickly, disappeared.

“That’s so unfair. It’s actually all your fault.”

“You’re right. It’s all my fault.”

They fell silent under the shade of the gazebo, now growing slightly longer than it had been at midday.

“... then what will you do from here, Bia?”

Kato finished up retying her bun and let go of her hair. Noticing that his fingers were no longer combing through her hair, Bianca reached behind her head to touch her new bun, as if to make sure it was really there.

“No braid?”

“No. No braid.”

Bianca sighed. She turned around to face him, finally meeting eye to eye.

“Then here’s my answer. It doesn’t mean a lot to me. In a year’s time, I’ll forget that you even existed, much less our shared experiences.”

She frowned, but she maintained eye contact with Kato. He could see both the determination and the tears in her golden eyes.

“Everything has been futile from the very start, but I don’t care anymore. At the very least, I want you to never forget about me. That’s a promise I’ll have you keep, even if I forget about you.”

Kato averted her gaze. A swirl of guilt, helplessness, and frustration overwhelmed him.

“How can I ever forget about you?”

“Then why didn’t you braid my hair?”

Kato paused for a moment. He clenched his fist as he struggled to find the right words.

“Because this, is what’s here in the present.”

“...”

“...”

“Then I want you to remember the Bianca from the past. Forever.”

Her face was now mere inches away from his. The scene felt nostalgic, coming from the same place, but a different time.

“When you leave Livia and travel across Candor, when you wake up and head out to perform your duties, when you go to sleep after a day of risking your life for Eternia, promise me that I will remain vividly in your memories, until the very end.”

Bianca leaned in and kissed Kato on the lips. In that moment of contact, she wanted to let go of an important part of her that she held onto for so long. But she realized, no matter what kind of closure she was going to get, as long as her memories remained, she would continue wishing for the impossible. And so the pain in her heart, too, remained.

Some time earlier, before the Elites have left school, there was a tense standoff on the main boulevard of Korolev Senior. On one side of the road closer to the school was Gilbert’s party, while on the other were members of the Mona faction.

If this wasn’t happening in front of the school and they were a few years older, having guns out wouldn’t have seemed misplaced. No one except their ringleaders dared to move or speak.

It was the Mona faction who was waiting first for Gilbert’s men to appear. Standing behind Gilbert was Alice, who felt just a bit bemused by the seriousness of the situation.

“Mona. What do you need from me?”

Gilbert was the first to speak up, in his usual no-nonsense style.

“Gilbert. I see that you’re still taking good care of Alice. I know it’s late coming from me, but many congratulations on your engagement.”

Inexplicably, the tone did not carry any of the goodwill that the words might suggest. In fact, it was clear that there was bitterness in her voice.

“You have my thanks. We both appreciate your best wishes.”

Regardless, Gilbert replied graciously and held onto Alice’s hand as he said that, to which Alice did not make any response. Mona’s gaze turned even more hostile, mostly at the indifferent Alice.

“Now, I’m sure you’re doing your best to shoot down both policies that were introduced to the Assembly earlier this week, but that’s not what I’m here for. I want to know your position on Class F.”

Mona, along with her gang, walked across the street to Gilbert’s side to confront them. She crossed her arms and demanded.

“What exactly do you want to know about my position on Class F?”

“You are our class representative, so I have to seek your opinion on them, if they are due for punitive action.”

“I see. I understand.”

Gilbert closed his eyes and mused. Beside him, Alice undoubtedly became more attentive at the conversation with the subject being Class F.

“You, of all people, should understand that this year isn’t like other years. With the deities from Class F, we’re the ones who need to compete with them, not the other way around.”

“I know. But I don’t believe that they require punitive action yet. Every other class above them except Class E has the restoration of order casus belli on them. So far, they only fought against Class E, and won with a righteous casus belli on top. I don’t see the rush for war yet.”

Hearing Gilbert praise her friends’ class was surprising and weird, but at the same time it was expected from Gilbert that he would give everyone a fair assessment. As much as she couldn’t accept his way of life, Alice appreciated their friendship nonetheless.

“What’s important is the status of Class A and its hold onto power in this school, not if our enemies waged righteous wars. You do realize that Class F is invariably allied to Class B, who are the ones in power right now? And therefore, they also control the peace processes after a Class War?”

“I’ve got to see it first-hand today, so I understand your concerns. But Class B is already powerful by itself. Unlike our class, theirs is not fragmented into two factions. A war with Class F would be playing straight into their hands with Class B’s leaders controlling the peace process.”

“Then is it not time we work together and bring them down? If we do, we’d have the support of Class C and D in the Assembly, and the necessary manpower to win a war against one or the other of Class B or F. If they enter into an official alliance before we can take punitive action, we will lose our opportunity to keep them down.”

“The premise you put forth is exactly what prevents Class A from maintaining its supremacy. Do you actually believe our factions can work together?”

Mona’s face turned sour, offended by Gilbert’s plain accusation against her.

“That’s why I’m suggesting it here! A shift in paradigm is not so alien to you, is it? If this is going to be the year of anomalies, then we should use unorthodox methods too. Besides, this was totally possible, even likely, only until the end of last year.”

Her voice trailed off at the end there, turning quieter as her expression softened, but it was only momentary. Her business-like appearance returned in a flash.

“Your points are valid, but I don’t believe that Class A’s supremacy can only be secured through war. Diplomacy is just as effective, even if it is more frustrating than war.”

“Diplomacy? What kind of a world are you looking at? We’re high schoolers, not politicians with corrupt benefits. We only play on the path of least resistance.”

“Don’t be ridiculous. Are we not the same as politicians? That’s why we’re the leaders of the PSC and the AC respectively.”

“And you intend to play games with Class F? They have nothing but their brute force behind them, and they’re being used as pawns by Class B to do their dirty work.”

“It doesn’t matter. The only thing we need to do is to stop Class B from taking over the Assembly, and as long as Class F remains a politically indifferent entity, there’s no real threat coming from them.”

“What do you mean?”

“Class F’s power consists only of the deities, and therefore concentrated in the hands of a few. To monitor and manipulate the wills of a few is not hard to do.

“In fact, both you and I already know these deities well enough to understand how they think. We didn’t climb through Class F in middle school for nothing.

“And that’s why I don’t think Class F is worth fighting over, especially with the divisions within our own class.”

He explained soberly as Mona became visibly more frustrated. It wasn’t because of his reasons, but of the reminder that they once fought together to climb up the hierarchy.

“Having so much faith in people to act the way they should is idealistic if not stupid. If you insist on doing so, it only serves to prove you’re too naive to be our class representative.”

“Is this a challenge to my authority?”

Gilbert took the naked challenge head-on like he always did. Mona was unperturbed, but gave up in the end anyway.

“No. I wouldn’t need to. And I’ve made my stance clear on Class A’s situation. I hope you’ll come to an enlightened decision, class rep.”

A car pulled up beside the two groups. It was Gilbert’s ride, and not a moment too soon either.

“We’ll be taking our leave. I’ll consider your position.”

Gilbert nodded as he led Alice into his car while the rest of this entourage watched on.

“I have faith in you. I know you won’t let Class A down.”

Mona sneered. Not even blinking, he merely waved and got into the car with Alice as well. The car took off, leaving the school behind.

As expected of a luxury car, it felt more like the interior of a limousine than a regular car. There was even a mini-fridge for serving drinks and snacks.

Normally, they would drive Alice home to the Westgroves’ residence in Livia, which was a comparatively small compound for their social status. It only had two floors with a small lobby area, but obviously it was still bigger than most homes. It was more like an upsized country home than a mansion.

However, there was a detour for today. Alice was visiting a shrine for a special occasion for her.

“Is it true? Class A will be going to war with Class F soon?”

“I thought you had no interest in the Class Wars?”

Answering a question with a question was not Gilbert’s usual style, so it surprised her a bit.

“I’m not in it for myself, but my friends are definitely part of it. It concerns me in that sense.”

“The Class F guys, huh. Well, it depends on the political situation. I know I have firmly rejected war with Class F at the moment, but it may change with time. One thing’s for sure, war with them will be inevitable. This is a zero-sum game after all. For every winner, there’s a loser, and my role is to bring Class A to victory.”

“And why did you have to take on this role? Isn’t there better things you want to do?”

“It’s a noble responsibility that’s fallen onto me, so I take it wholly and with pride. And isn’t Class F the same?”

“No. They aren’t in it to fulfill a stupid role in society. They’re doing it for fun, for their own sake, and so is Mira. They don’t believe in your sense of noblesse oblige.”

“I see. And your stance too is the same as theirs. Then there’s not much to talk about. Like I said, with the current state of affairs, war is inevitable, whether I was in power or not. You saw the determination in Mona to wage war.”

“There’s no way for you to stop this?”

“If there was, Mona’s faction would not even exist to begin with. A war isn’t the be all end all.”

“Yes, but I’d still rather not see my friends having to hurt each other. Not in this way.”

“Ah. I understand your concern, but it’ll be fine. The cleanse tags are made for this reason. In any case, if you were to choose, you’ll firmly stand on the Class F side.”

“You’re not wrong, but you’re not giving yourself enough credit. At the end of the day, you’re my fiancé, right?”

The edge was cutting, to say the least.

“You only need to do that in front of our families. Just be prepared to accept the consequences when you do take their side.”

“Consequences?”

“Your sympathy for Class F has not gone unnoticed. Contrary to your belief, your profile is quite visible and of interest to a lot of groups.”

“Mainly because I’m connected to you, to be honest.”

Gilbert shrugged.

“Doesn’t change the fact that you’re being watched. I will acquiesce to your treason, but it doesn’t mean others from our class will do the same.”

“Then make them, mister class rep. That’s your job.”

“If only I could.”

The road led into the less densely packed outer fringes of the city where grass and trees were a slightly more common sight. The place was still lively with people, but not as much as it was in the inner city. It was one of the more suburban areas, similar to where Caius, Franco and the Jupiter sisters lived in.

Finally, they turned into the Oriental temple that was boxed inside the main boulevards of this outer district. In addition to the Yue shrines and places of worship, within its grounds was also large common cemetery for the deceased.

“I’ll wait in the parking lot. Take your time.”

Gilbert opened the door to let Alice out. She left her schoolbag with Gilbert in the car and marched onto the open square of the temple while the car drove off of the pickup-dropoff zone for the parking lot nearby.

This was the second time she visited this temple. The air was slightly different from the temples in the Rine; it was probably closer in spirit to the Yue homeland. There weren’t many grand steps she had to climb as this area was quite flat. The entire temple grounds were level.

Passing through the main gate, flanked by grey statues of animals and wooden arcs painted in red, she entered a smaller square with many paths that led to different areas and wooden buildings. Each of those buildings housed a statue of a mythical deity from Yue folklore, complete with tables of fruits, shrine tablets and incense. Some smaller deities did not have their own private rooms, but instead were outside in the small square under rain shelters.

Although she obtained some incense and a small bouquet of flowers from one of the temple’s server, she wasn’t there to kneel on the prayer cushions and pay her respects to the gods. Instead, she followed a path on the side that led to another open area: the cemetery.

Standing there at the entrance, she met an unlikely person standing some ways further along the main path. The red-haired boy waved to her the moment they recognized each other.

“Yo, Alice.”

Franco walked up to her with his parents in tow. Alice, too, greeted him well-naturedly.

“Franco. You’re here to visit someone as well?”

“Yup. I came to visit my older brother who left us a long time ago when I was a kid. So our fam comes here every year on his anniversary.”

“I see. I also witnessed the death of a good friend when I was a child, and only in recent years I learned that his grave was here in Livia, so I too come and visit on his anniversary.”

“Oh, then my brother and your friend shares the same day. I don’t know if that’s lucky or not.”

“Hah. I’d say it’s pure luck. Life goes on.”

“For sure, for sure. Did you just get here?”

“Yes, I did. Are you about to leave?”

“Just about to. We also have an altar at home, and my mum wants to prepare for the prayers there too.”

“You missed school to come here?”

Franco nodded.

“To be honest, it doesn’t take too long to do everything, but my mum insists on staying at home together as a family on this day, so I don’t get to go to school.”

“That’s fair. Well, it’s my turn to get my business done, and I’ll see you tomorrow.”

She smiled earnestly. They waved.

“See you!”

She walked down the main stone path to nearly the very end of it. This particular cemetery was the only Candoran-style cemetery in the city with its tombstones. Because of space concerns, most others serviced in shrines with traditional Yue spirit tablets for the dead.

Walking off the main path and onto a row, she stopped in front of a small gravestone. Surprisingly, she saw fresh flowers and incense laid at the helm, and subconsciously looked around to see, but it was obviously futile. The incense was already all burned, so whoever visited had already left.

She kneeled down in front of it, placed her one incense stick into the incense pot, untied the shard of Plexiglas around her neck, and said her prayers with it in her hands. Etched on the gravestone were only two things: a Rinian name, Percival Lippmann Rockefeller, and a year, 1876.

“Percy, I’ve returned again this year. How are you doing? It seemed only not so long ago that you’ve left, but I’m already about to graduate from high school.

“Though, I don’t feel like I’ve changed much since we last saw each other. It’ll make it easier for you to recognize it’s me, right?

“Also, I’m engaged now. Weird, huh? We were supposed to be engaged, but look at the state of affairs now. Life moved on without you, sadly.

“It’s not like I had a choice in the matter, though. Don’t worry about that. If I had any say in this, I’d never marry.

“But it’s all right. I’ll manage it somehow. I’ve met a few good people recently, and I hope we can remain friends, so that the dreariness of the family business isn’t so hard to deal with.

“There’s this one boy who keeps making fun of me for his own amusement. Not only that, but he’s surrounded by many other girls too. Remind you of anyone? It’s as if I can see you in him. And whenever I think of you, it brings me back to those old days and takes me out of today’s reality.

“Heh. You don’t have to be jealous about what’s happening here on Earth today. All these things are merely a curse for the living. Whether or not I can move on from your departure, a part of you will always be there in my heart.”

She re-tied the pendant around her neck and stood. The incense continued to burn as its ashes fell into the pot that housed it.

“Goodbye. I’ll try my best to come with better news next year.”